


you twist my arm

by sapoeysap



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers in Space
Genre: F/M, Sort of a Slow Build, in just over a thousand words, ranger romance 2018, silly idiots in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-12 18:09:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13552791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapoeysap/pseuds/sapoeysap
Summary: he wants the stars in her eyes to be about him,she just wants an admission so she knows she's right





	you twist my arm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [beatswords](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beatswords/gifts).



> kels kels kels,  
> you pull me and i can't do anything but an inspace ship.  
> (shane and dustin was a big temptation though)  
> i hand wrote this all one night and was like yeah. this is perfect. i love this challenges cause they push me out of my box and i would never ship this, but now i kinda do.  
> i hope you enjoy this as much as i did writing it, i had to make some nods to that great screen cap of them all staring into space.  
> i love this team.  
> love ella x  
> (p.s i made a mix for this fic because)
> 
>  
> 
> [playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXmmD28EX8jBw3bHHJUuht8cHZ1-Vv8uL)

_hey, i'm looking up for my star girl,_

_i guess i'm stuck in this mad world_

_with things that i wanna say,_

_but you're a million miles away_

 

Cassie will never be his, she’s T.J’s girl, or so it seems, well so the bro code dictates. Relegating him to stolen glances and words that stay firmly in his mind. She’s beautiful, a teenage dream in pink pigtails. Ashley’s something, a girly girl, but not afraid to be on the boys level. But Cassie, Cassie’s this tomboy in pink. Scrappy, funny, beautiful and all unapologetically so. Cassie Chan is a girl who lights up the world without meaning to. If he wasn’t halfway in love with her he’d resent that fact.

And Cassie is T.J’s girl, until she isn’t. Some ‘better of as friends’ (more like she sees the world in the hero worship footsteps of a phantom) That’s the moment he knows he’s truly gone on her as well, when she’s got stars in her eyes visible even when morphed, and the ache in his chest says he wants those stars to be about him and not some faceless assistant from the endless black of space.

He’s crashing at T.Js when the words accidentally slip from his mouth. Uttered so quietly, so timidly, almost like his normal speech pattern but just not quite. “I … think… I might be in love with Cassie” T.J drops the ball he’s been throwing at the wall with mind numbing repetition for the past half an hour. “Cassie huh, Cool”, the answer is so T.J, said with such a cool flippancy, like he’s passionate in the most effortless way. The smile that accompanies the comment say’s “good, go for it” and its more confirmation than words. And so Carlos resolves that he will go for it. Because T.J smiles and leadership mysticism inspire nothing but confidence in him. But the thing is, being a power ranger doesn’t always allow for plans to follow through. And there’s no time for a confession in between a colour change and ending up in space is there?

Ashley flirts and fits around Andros perfectly, Cassie watches her act like a fool in the name of love. Jealous that her best friend gets something she’s not quite up to feeling. All teenage hormones replicated from the bubble-gum pop that play through her headphones. T.J was good, soft kisses on the bleachers, smiles to melt her heart, hand holding to boost her up. Phantom was all mystery, assistance from the shadows, disappearing way too soon before there’s even a real chance. And its not like she needs someone, she’s fully aware that she can be fine by herself, doesn’t buy into the ‘every girl needs a boy to be complete’ ideology. But then she catches Carlos staring, sweet Carlos, and so she ignores it. There’s nothing there she’s sure of it. So she never tries, never aims for any follow through with him. Her minds made him off limits. Except sometimes, it seems the universe is trying to pull the together, again and again they end up in rooms together, alone. DECA puts the ship in emergency power down one time when they are in the lift together. They sit for an hour in companionable silence, the sounds of the ship the soundtrack to there steady breathing in unison.

It’s a friendship, a bond over the fact that they are united colours. And after all pink and black were never meant to mix.

There’s push and pull, ebbs and flows on a spaceship, its all confined spaces and isolation before you come back down to earth, literally and metaphorically. Going from the companionship of 4 other people and two robots to billions of voices, the strange comfort of being along in a crowd. It’s harder to explain your feelings in between these polarizing worlds. Throw on the weekly saving the world, and there’s no time to explore any feelings that build. That’s why Carlos puts it off, he tells himself, long after T.Js motivational energy has faded from him. Surely admitting to himself he might be in love with Cassie is enough. Except its not. It can’t be. Not when he catches her looking back.

T.J nudges her, pushes her towards Carlos. In the way only a true red can, and that Andros is blind to the more human needs of his team. He tells her in whispers, slow suggestions, because there friendship is easy, like a sunny coach ride where they occasionally save others lives and wear dorky glasses. It’s something that just slips in conversation, and T.J is the kind of person who would never mention the blush that colours Cassie’s cheeks. Its Ashley that makes the final push. Quite literally. Shoving them into a room together in a perfectly set up ‘accident’.

Cassie’s staring out the window, grey and pink suit in contrast to the starry universe outside the pane. Carlos is quiet, until he spots T.Js face through the tiny door window, big T.J smile, the same as the one from many months ago, and then the blue ranger is ducking down, laughing at the same time he feels a hand grip his arm. He spins to face Cassie, her hairs pinned back with two pink barrettes, she’s beautiful, and smiling at him in a way she’s never smiled at him before. The kiss that she gives him is soft. Pressed not quite to his lips, more to the groove in between his mouth and cheek. It taste like cola chap stick and a thousand dreams come true, she’s pulling away before his brain catches up, door opening and he’s watching her walk away.

“wait”

It’s all he can manage, he’s shell shocked, she’s spinning on her heels, hair flowing as she turns to face him, smile splitting her face in half. He’s so distracted he doesn’t even clock T.J, Ashley and Andros all watching with wide eyes.

“I uh…”

“yeah Carlos?” pours out like sugar from her mouth

“like you” he finishes, so faint. But she hears it, he’s sure she hears it. Because the reply of “I like you too” comes with the offer of an outstretched hand, short nails bitten down. Cassie pulls him in, ready to take the lead, wrapping her arms around him. Pressing tiny kisses to his neck. The door slides closed again, the three other teammates all thumbs up (well Ashley’s trying to teach Andros the gesture at the same time). Cassie’s looking at him with blown pupils, the kind you get when you’re in love, stars in her eyes. She takes the lead, the first proper kiss, cola sweet as tongues slip through. They just stand there, as the universe flies past the window, wrapped up perfectly in each other. Something in the back of both of there minds tells them that DECA is always watching, and knowing their teammates they are probably watching too, just out of happiness that this is finally happening. But it doesn’t matter. Neither do the whispered confessions Carlos pretends he can’t hear Cassie mumble into his lips. The “I’m sorry I didn’t realise what was in front of me”, part of him longs to tell her that it doesn’t matter, what’s ahead of them is more important, so instead he hides it away, buries it down just a bit, to tell her later, in the moments where the music stops in her headphones, or the pen runs dry in her diary. Those moments when she is so lost in her head and he gets to be the one that brings her down.

As the universe goes past In cycles of stars, its that realisation that you get to fight for the world, hand in hand with a team that supports you, and beside the person who loves you the most.

**Author's Note:**

> title,  
> gerard way - millions
> 
> song quote  
> mcfly - star girl 
> 
> Massive shout out to Pearl for this!!!


End file.
